Tim Wigmore works on the Morning Briefing email and was called a "little slave" by the Daily Politics Show. He blogs on British politics, and also contributes to ESPNcricinfo. He tweets @timwig.

Free school meals: Lib Dems win the Coalition's PR war

The mass extension of free school meals may not be an efficient way to spend £600 million, but it is popular. And the Lib Dems will get all the credit.

In a way this is odd. Bunched in with the announcement of free school meals for all pupils in reception, year one and year two is something far more significant to helping the poorest pupils. Sixth-formers from the poorest backgrounds who go to Further Education colleges will now be eligible for free school meals; previously, only those who went to schools could. This was wrong.

No one was saying so louder than the Conservative MP Robert Halfon. He launched a cross-party campaign with the Labour MP Nic Dakin to get the law changed, and had forced a Backbench Business debate on the topic next month. This required getting the signatures of 75 MPs – which included 57 Conservatives.

While Halfon says that "the policy on free school meals would not have happened without Michael Gove", voters will see only that it is Nick Clegg who is announcing it. Halfon says he doesn't care who gets the credit, but the Conservatives should.

And it continues a worrying trend for the Tories: Coalition measures that do address cost-of-living issues are being claimed by the Liberal Democrats. They are presenting themselves as the pragmatists while the Conservatives would sooner focus on tax breaks for marriage. Raising the income tax threshold is completely associated with the Lib Dems – even though it is a traditional Tory tax-cutting measure.

Now the Lib Dems will be able to boast of helping out all parents through extending free school meals. For the wealthiest parents, this will make up the shortfall in cut child benefit. And while the Lib Dems are associated with free school meals – the nice bit – the Tories are the bad guys who took away child benefit.

The economic case for extending free school meals is distinctly unproven. If, as David Laws said, part of the rationale is that large numbers of children living in poverty were not entitled to them, it would have been far cheaper to increase the numbers eligible – right now household income must be under £16,190 – rather than make free school meals a new universal benefit.

But the political case is overwhelming. Claiming credit for popular cost of living measures is a vital part of the road to 2015. Right now, the Lib Dems are winning the Coalition's PR war.